UKRAINE BIDS FLEET TO SWEAR LOYALTY

By SERGE SCHMEMANN,

Published: January 5, 1992

MOSCOW, Jan. 4—
Ukraine has ordered the entire Black Sea Fleet and all ground forces based on the republic's soil to take an oath of loyalty to Ukraine, a move that has roused ominous new tensions with Russia and within the military.

So far, the command of the Black Sea Fleet, which has its headquarters in Sevastopol in the Crimea, has refused to administer the oath, arguing that Ukraine agreed in forming the new Commonwealth of Independent States to leave the Navy under joint commonwealth command.

Although the oath has not been administered, the Ukrainian move has brought strong criticism from Russian officials, with the Speaker of the Russian Parliament calling the move "absolutely unjustified." A Divisive Issue

The Speaker, Ruslan Khasbulatov, said that while Russia wants to resolve issues harmoniously, "this does not mean that somebody can simply seize our fleets, our armies, to put them under their jurisdiction, to force them to take loyalty oaths."

Control over the vast armed forces of the former Soviet Union has been one of the most divisive issues facing members of the new commonwealth, especially Ukraine and Russia. At a meeting last Monday, commonwealth leaders failed to agree on a joint armed force, allowing Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Moldova to go ahead with plans to form their own armies.

Ukraine's claim to the Black Sea fleet, a major component of the former Soviet Navy, has been especially contentious, since Russia claims that it is a "strategic" force and so must remain under joint command. The dispute was aggravated late last month when Russia transferred a new aircraft carrier from the Black Sea, which borders partly on Ukraine and partly on Russia, to Murmansk, a Russian port.

Ukraine argues that the Black Sea Fleet cannot be considered a strategic force because it is not currently armed with strategic nuclear weapons, and that it is subject to Ukrainian control since its home port is in Ukraine. Feelings About the Crimea

The issue is further complicated by Russia's view that the Crimean peninsula and other major Black Sea ports that now form part of Ukraine are historically Russian territory.

An initial round of negotiations between the Black Sea commander, Admiral Igor Kasatonov, and Ukraine's President, Leonid M. Kravchuk, on the Ukrainian demand for an allegiance oath ended Friday in deadlock.

The Ukrainian Defense Minister, Col. Gen. Konstantin Morozov, insisted at a news conference today in Kiev, the Ukrainian capital, that "the Black Sea Fleet must be Ukrainian and is part of the armed forces of the Republic."

General Morozov said that Marshal Yevgeny I. Shaposhnikov, the former Soviet Defense Minister and now the commander-in-chief of the Commonwealth armed forces, was expected in Kiev any day for further talks.

Ukraine's claim to the Black Sea Fleet has been part of its broader claim to control over all military units on Ukrainian soil except for strategic forces. Kiev demanded that as of Friday all officers based in Ukraine either take an oath of allegiance "to the Ukrainian people," or retire or transfer out of the republic. Officers Said to Be Divided

The demand reportedly has sharply divided the officers. Izvestia reported that entire regiments in the Carpathian military district, one of three in Ukraine, have refused to take the oath.

Marshal Shaposhnikov had earlier circulated a new oath of service in which soldiers were to pledge to observe the constitution and laws of the Commonwealth, as well as the state in which they serve. The marshal said today at a news conference in Moscow that Ukraine's initiative was "hasty" and that the oath would cause "serious problems" for some 75,000 Russian officers now stationed in Ukraine.

Ukraine has sought to justify its move by noting that commonwealth leaders agreed in Minsk last Monday that member states could form their own armies and that only strategic forces would be required to come under a united command.

Immediately after the meeting, President Kravchuk declared that all three military districts in Ukraine -- the Kievan, Odessan and Carpathian -- and the Black Sea Fleet were under his and General Morozov's command.

Russia argues that the original Commonwealth agreement specifically left the Black Sea fleet under joint command as a "strategic force." The fleet, which like other parts of the Soviet armed forces is made up of people of all the different ethnic heritages of the former union, is one of three major commands of the former Soviet Navy.

Izvestia reported that the central naval command has been arguing the fleet is strategic because it has a strategic mission in the Mediterranean, opposing the United States Sixth Fleet, and because half the ships are capable of carrying nuclear arms.

According to figures for 1989 published by the International Institute for Strategic Studies, the Black Sea Fleet had 97,000 servicemen, 69 major combat ships, 29 submarines and scores of other patrol and support vessels.

Russia had offered to transfer several ships to Ukraine for coastal defense, but insisted that the full Navy remain under the command of Russia as the legal successor to the Soviet state. Moscow notes that Mr. Kravchuk was until recently in full agreement with this arrangement, and endorsed it publicly several times -- including once at a campaign appearance before officers in Sevastopol.

Ukraine's claims to parts of the Soviet military have raised considerable disquiet in Moscow. President Boris N. Yeltsin of Russia was reportedly studying the issue with close advisers.

The Speaker of the Russian Parliament, Mr. Khasbulatov, declared, "All our soldiers must feel secure -- they will be under the protection of the Russian Government." Several members of the Parliament, including Vice President Aleksandr Rutskoi, a decorated Air Force general, sent an open letter to the Ukrainian Parliament urging it to cancel the claim to the Black Sea Fleet, saying the move had created an "explosive situation."

A top Moscow city official, Yuri Luzhkov, went further, suggesting that Russia should not have lost its premier ports on the Black Sea. "Crimea, Sevastopol -- these are lands soaked with the blood and planted with the bones of our ancestors," he told the newspaper Moskovsky Komsomolets. "I cannot visualize Russia without Sevastopol."

The dispute arises as Russia and Ukraine struggle with the first disruptions of major price increases, a test of free-market reforms that has added to tensions between them. In Moscow, Mr. Kravchuk is increasingly viewed as an opportunist who takes one position at commonwealth meetings, then succumbs to the nationalist fervor in Ukraine on his return to Kiev.

Mr. Kravchuk has criticized Russia for laying claim to all the institutions of the former Soviet Union and for putting Ukraine in a difficult position by pushing ahead with economic reforms before Ukraine was ready.

Photo: Workers lowering a nuclear warhead onto a truck yesterday in Kiev, Ukraine. The weapons are to be transported to Russia. (Associated Press) (pg. 6) Map of Ukraine and Russia (pg. 6)